Ms McCourt says she designed the class to help young women understand and appreciate that their “voices matter”. “I feel like there are a lot of voices that need to be counted,” she says. “There’s a tendency [among women] to defer a lot and I wanted this class to be a reminder to women themselves that they can make a difference.”

Ms McCourt had long wanted to teach a graduate level course on leadership for women. A few years ago, she became serious about the idea: she read all the current literature, attended seminars and conferences, wrote a syllabus and brought it to Anderson’s dean. By the following winter, she was on the faculty.

The seminar-style course includes units on how female stereotypes have evolved, how women communicate in the office and examines ways in which US businesses might stem the female brain drain. It also includes units on female entrepreneurs, female sports executives and female politicians.

In addition, Ms McCourt brings in guest speakers in different fields and industries. Past speakers have included Gloria Steinem, the noted feminist writer, Sherry Lansing, former chairman and chief executive of Paramount, as well as film producers and local politicians.

“These guests talk about decision points in their lives, what propelled them, what held them back, and what they wished they’d done differently,” says Ms McCourt. “It becomes a very personal class. The rule of the day is: what’s said here, stays here.”

Kudos to Jamie and the Dodgers. Unlike Jamie (MBA from Sloan/MIT), it doesn't appear that Frank has an MBA...perhaps he can take notes (literally)?

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comments:

1) Jamie McCourt strikes me as the embodiment of the idea that an MBA is a useless certificate. What, specifically, has she done to make the Dodgers better? I can't think of a thing.2) Sure, she's an executive with the Dodgers (and IIRC the highest-positioned woman in baseball), but she married into that job. There are any number of people who will tell you that is unfair to bring up, but it is still a fact.

In short, I have absolutely no idea where she gets off telling others how to run a business of any kind, especially considering her track record.

1) What alternative? One of the assorted McCourt fils?2) Please to note I'm not saying an MBA is intrinsically worthless, but Scott Adams (via his "Dilbert" comic strip) daily makes a case that there is indeed a large class of individuals for which it is true. I tend to think Jamie McCourt=PHB.